Iraqi civilians caught in air barrage

BAGHDAD — "The American president does not deserve to live," moaned Bassim Hussein, as he kneeled face-down on a hospital bed, his bandaged buttocks in the air.

Hussein is one of 242 Baghdad civilians the Iraqi government says were injured in the first two days of U.S. air attacks on Baghdad. Four civilians have been killed, officials said. Iraqi officials said 77 civilians also had been killed and 366 injured in Basra.

The casualties lying in various Baghdad hospitals are the first cases of apparent "collateral damage" in the Iraq war. But the cause of their pain and suffering is not so clear.

In interviews with about 20 patients Saturday, it appeared that most were injured when they were caught on the street by the fierce U.S. air attacks. Several others were in their homes.

It could not be immediately determined what sort of weapons had caused the explosions, whether American missiles and bombs or Iraqi anti- aircraft fire falling to earth.

"I am a doctor, so I don't know whether the shells were missiles, rockets or anti-aircraft fire," said Dr. Osama Saleh, an orthopedic surgeon at Al-Kindy Hospital, which has Baghdad's largest trauma ward. "But the result is the same."

On Thursday, one person was killed and 37 injured, and on Friday, three were killed and 215 injured, said Health Minister Dr. Obeid Mobarik. Roland Hugue nin-Benjamin, an official of the International Red Cross, said his organization has visited Baghdad's hospitals and his organization viewed the government figures as "credible."